Quick Step Question

Q: I am getting ready to install laminate floors on the entire downstairs of my house – I want these to look as close to wood as possible, and I’ve found 2 potential Quickstep floors, for which I have questions on both:
1. UF987 Dark Varnished Cherry – 4″ Planks.
I believe these are “beveled” planks – I’ve heard that bevels can be a pain because they collect dirt whereas the other types don’t collect as much. What do you know about that?
Is there another floor that has planks without bevels in this color?
Also, they are individual planks – my question is: is each plank a different shade, or are they all equally the same shade? I only got one sample so I can’t tell at all. Pls advise.
2. Uniclic Eligna 338006, Cherry Double Plank.
What has been people’s experience with this one? It looks a bit shiny and I want it to look as close to real wood as possible.
Let me know your thoughts on the pros and cons of the above 2 floors and if you have any other suggestions.
I REALLY appreciate any input you can provide
Thank you,
Patty
A: Some laminate floors have an amazing appearance and look so real that it is hard to tell the difference when installed and Quick Step does a very good job of making great patterns and colors with their laminate. Before I dig in on comparing the two floors you are looking at, let’s first address your question about bevels as this applies a bit more universally.
Bevels come in varying degrees of angle, meaning that some will have deeper grooves than others. Typically an eased or microbeveled edge will have a shallower groove, which is common in laminate floors. The major benefits of beveled edges are that they hide minute differences in plank height and accent each individual plank, giving a more realistic look of wood floors. There is a common worry that the bevels will collect more dust and dirt, but as long as your cleaning regime includes sweeping before mopping, this should not occur.
Let’s dig into your questions about the UF987, Dark Varnished Cherry from the Elegance 8mm collection. Since this floor is in a single plank lay out with the bevel, you will see each plank stand out, and there is some small variance in shade of color, much like real wood. The Elegance collection is one of Quick Step’s higher priced lines, and overall its a great floor, but based on the ones I have seen it does have a higher gloss level than the Eligna – which depending on your preference can be a downside.
Cherry Double Plank from the Eligna collection is a good line from Quick Step. The Eligna collection as a whole has a bit more matte finish from what I have seen. With the double plank, you will have two strips of of wood per plank. This tends to give a much more varied appearance in the floor and can help to mask any pattern repetition in a laminate floor, but you get less of an individual plank appearance. Eligna replaced the old Uniclic Long Plank Collection, so it has retained similar standards as one of the better floors on the market.
In comparison, both of these are very good floors, it will come down to matter of what appearance you want. If you want a bit more uniform appearance, featuring wider individual planks then look into the Elegance Dark Varnished Cherry. If you want a bit more variance with a more strip appearance floor then go with the Cherry Double Plank.